Fremd math students score high in online competition

The Fremd Math Team poses after six of its members took first in Illinois in an online competition.Courtesy District 211

Submitted by District 211

Students on the math team at Fremd High School in Palatine proved in 90 minutes that they are tops in the state.

Members of the team Benjamin Lewis, Berwin Xie, Chungho Lee, Soumyaa Mazumder, Jennie Yang, and Emily Jia, placed No. 1 in Illinois in the Purple Comet Math Meet and were ranked in the top 20 in the nation.

The Purple Comet Math Meet is a free, online, international, team mathematics competition designed for middle and high school students conducted annually since 2003. This is Fremd's first year participating in the contest.

"I have never done math competitively, and it was a fun experience to watch other people work on problems, work together, and be able to contribute my knowledge to the greater team," Xie said of the six members of the team who ranged from freshmen to seniors.

Students can use any non-online resources, including calculators, to help them answer 30 questions within 90 minutes.

"It is fun to work with a bigger group because I normally don't get to work with freshmen and sophomores that much," Lewis said.

Christopher Grattoni, Fremd mathematics teacher, is the team sponsor.

"Seeing kids of all different ages with different math backgrounds collectively be excited about mathematics was a cool thing," he said. "It's a great contest, and hopefully more high schools will get involved."